A decade ago, activists worried about the dangers of fracking created momentum in Monterey County to curb oil and gas operations, which culminated in 2016 with the passage of Measure Z, a ballot measure that sought to ban not just fracking in the county, but also wastewater injection and new oil development.
It passed by a 56-44 margin, and was quickly litigated by oil interests before it could take effect. That led to decisions, over the course of nearly seven years of litigation from Monterey County Superior Court to the California Supreme Court, that found Measure Z unlawful; regulation of oil and gas is strictly in the purview of state and federal agencies, not local ones, the decisions affirmed.
And now, even as climate change accelerates and nearly every new year globally becomes among the hottest in recorded history, developing oil fields locally, remains an attractive investment for some.
On Oct. 18, Bakersfield-based Trio Petroleum Corp. announced its acquisition of a 22-percent interest in the McCool Ranch oil field, which is a few miles north of the company’s operations in San Ardo. Per the company’s statement at the time, there are about 7 million barrels of oil in the ground at the McCool Ranch property Trio is leasing.
On. Jan. 4, Trio announced that its work to refurbish oil production on the property, which went idle in 2015 due to crude oil prices falling below $30 per barrel, is going favorably, and that the wastewater injection well on the site is in “excellent condition.” The property has four existing horizontal oil wells and two vertical ones, and per Trio’s Jan. 4 statement, has the potential capacity for drilling another 25 wells.
“[Trio] believes that current oil prices and other considerations (e.g., approved permits) make this an ideal time to restart McCool Ranch, that the restart is going well, and that the field should soon be providing important cash flow to the company,” the statement reads.
(1) comment
As I recall, the courts held that the state and federal regulators are controlling, requiring state action, not county action, to write the rules, and precluding county modification. If persons are truly interested in supervising that work, they should work with state legislators to write appropriate rules.
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